迎娶 (yíng qǔ) is a formal, literary verb meaning 'to welcome and take (a bride)' — specifically, the groom's act of going to the bride’s home to escort her back for the wedding ceremony. The first character 迎 (yíng) means 'to welcome' or 'to receive,' while 娶 (qǔ) means 'to marry (a wife),' emphasizing the groom’s perspective (as opposed to 嫁 jià, used for the bride ‘marrying into’ the husband’s family). Together, they evoke traditional wedding customs where the groom leads a procession to fetch the bride.

This term is commonly used in written Chinese, wedding invitations, news reports about celebrity marriages, or historical/cultural descriptions. It carries connotations of respect, ceremony, and familial duty, and is rarely used in casual speech — modern spoken Chinese often opts for simpler verbs like 结婚 (jiéhūn, 'to get married') or simply 娶 (qǔ).